Ten Tracks Today – 1st October 2011

The furious strings of the this overture are quite arresting for a film that I recall as being quite boring (save for Herrmann’s music). A great re-recording from Marco Polo.

02 – “Defiance” – Genesis Burning – Aleksandar Randjelovic

Wailing female vocals with an Eastern European influence preludes a percussive passage with various ethnic vocals for this game soundtrack. The cue moves back and forth between these two parts to fashion and interesting-sounding whole.

03 – “End Credits” – The Beautiful Country – Zbigniew Preisner

What Preisner seems so simple (in terms of the melody) but it is so effective and is such a beautiful cue. There’s nothing grand here, just restrained strings (with some distracting keyboards/synths) that makes for a very sad-sounding piece.

04 – “Pack On The Move” – The Pack – Lee Holdridge

Elements of Leonard Rosenman here with the string – almost tribal-sounding – rhythms. It’s interspersed by a more wholesome melody on strings – quite in contrast the the modernistic rhythms.

I don’t think that this sort of cue would be composed for a film nowadays. It’s stark in its orchestration but that’s a sign of when this was composed I think. Very rhythmic in nature, various parts of the orchestra use a strict rhythm throughout this long score. The latter part of the cue sounds almost like some sort of ’50s sci-fi. The brass fanfare near the end may underscore the part of the movie I remember most: the breaking of the army through the ice (though I am not even sure this scene is from that film!)

06 – “Main Title” – Spaceballs – John Morris

Grand fanfares announce the arrival of the film – a necessary opposite to what’s about to unfold with the story. The film’s not really something I enjoy but Morris’ music is definitely worth a listen.

07 – “Finale: Part 1” – Destination: Moon – Leith Stevens

Not a celebratory finale this one: low register instruments feature throughout this track giving the track an ominous feel to it. I have not seen the film but things don’t sound too happy here!

08 – “Flooded Streets – Aquarium” – Crysis 2 – Borislav Slavov

There’s lots to enjoy on this album and the string playing on this one is one of them: insistent strings playing over pounding percussion is always something I enjoy.

09 – “The Dark Crystal Overture” – The Dark Crystal – Trevor Jones

Played at the 1st SONCINEMAD Film Music Festival concert this is a nice summary of the title theme. It was great to be a part of that event – and to see the film on the big screen.

10 – “Black Falcon” – Flyboys – Trevor Rabin

Again it is the string playing that’s the hook for this track: particularly at the beginning of the track. A bit of a mix of instruments and choir in places, and there’s the obligatory patriotic music.